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Frittelli pips Atwal in Mauritius play-off

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BEL OMBRE, MAURITIUS - DECEMBER 03: Dylan Frittelli of South Africa holds the trophy as he celebrates victory during day four of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Heritage Golf Club on December 3, 2017 in Bel Ombre, Mauritius. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
BEL OMBRE, MAURITIUS - DECEMBER 03: Dylan Frittelli of South Africa holds the trophy as he celebrates victory during day four of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Heritage Golf Club on December 3, 2017 in Bel Ombre, Mauritius. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Dylan Frittelli defeated Arjun Atwal at the first play-off hole to capture the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and his second European Tour title of the calendar year.

The 27 year old South African, who was named Graduate of the Year earlier in the week after finishing 19th on the 2017 Race to Dubai, birdied the first extra hole after both players had finished on 16 under par.

While Frittelli celebrated adding to his 2017 Lyoness Open powered by ORGANIC+ title, there was disappointment for three-time European Tour winner Atwal, who began the week at Heritage Golf Club with a stunning course record 62 and had led after every previous round.

The 44 year old from India, who will captain Team Asia in the EurAsia Cup presented by DRB-HICOM, almost snatched victory when his eagle putt on the last lipped out, before settling for birdie and a closing 68 to force a play-off after Frittelli had signed for a 67.

France’s Romain Langasque, playing on a tournament invite after losing his card at the end of last season, also finished with a 67 to end the week in third place on 14 under par – his best European Tour finish.

Louis de Jager of South Africa finished in fourth position on 13 under par, with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon and Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines one shot further back.

South African Major winner Louis Oosthuizen looked like he could put in a late challenge, starting his back nine with a hat-trick of birdies, followed by his second eagle of the day on the 14th. But a triple-bogey seven on the 16th saw him finish in a tie for seventh place alongside José-Filipe Lima of Portugal on 11 under par.

Player quotes

Dylan Frittelli: “Arjun Atwal – great player, tremendous player. I played with him yesterday and it was one of the most fun rounds I’ve had in recent times.

“It is good for me to finally win a play-off. It has been three on the European Tour and one on the Sunshine Tour which I’ve lost. I’m proud of the way I played the 18th hole. I hit a good drive there which pretty much sums up the week. Just great ball striking and putting pressure on the rest of the field.

“I made a few crucial decisions. Hitting driver on 10 was big and hitting the green on 14 was huge. Those two were probably the biggest positives for me.

“I’m feeling good. I’m playing the Joburg Open next week and I’m looking forward to that. Hopefully I’ll be strong and be in contention on the weekend again.”

Arjun Atwal: “I didn’t read the line in my second shot of the play-off, didn’t hit a good shot and didn’t hit a great putt. Dylan obviously did the right thing and deserves to win. I’m happy with the way I played this week but right now I’m just disappointed to lose the tournament.

“You don’t get many chances especially at my age. I’ll take a lot of positives out of this week but right now I’m really mad.

“To be honest, I haven’t been in that situation in a while. To be fair, I think I handled myself quite well. The tee shot in the play-off was okay. I still put myself in position to make birdie but I didn’t pull through.”

Romain Langasque “It was a really good round, again I played really good golf from the tee and from fairway to green. My putting was a little bit shy until the 15th and then I made a good putt and a really good putt on 16 also. The finish was really good and again four under today in tough conditions.

“I knew when I started today I would need six or seven under to have a chance, but I also know I have a top five to play next week, so I’m really happy about all of my game for the week, and for the season, which is the most important thing.

“I will just focus on next week now and just do my best. If I play this golf next week I have a chance again.”

Final scores

268 Dylan Frittelli 67 66 68 67, Arjun Atwal 62 70 68 68
270 Romain Langasque 67 69 67 67
271 Louis de Jager 66 67 67 71
272 Matthieu Pavon 69 68 69 66, Miguel Tabuena 66 68 67 71
273 Louis Oosthuizen 67 68 71 67, Jose-Filipe Lima 68 66 69 70
274 Ockie Strydom 66 68 73 67, George Coetzee 67 71 68 68, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 69 66 68, Oliver Bekker 67 67 71 69, Joel Stalter 67 68 70 69
275 Jeff Winther 71 68 72 64, Justin Walters 68 66 69 72
276 Darren Fichardt 70 66 70 70, Shiv Kapur 69 69 68 70, Laurie Canter 67 66 72 71, Ricardo Gouveia 68 68 68 72
277 Ashun Wu 72 68 70 67, Jinho Choi 71 66 70 70
278 Paul Peterson 70 69 70 69, Sam Horsfield 68 72 69 69, Scott Vincent 70 70 68 70, Neil Schietekat 70 70 68 70, Masahiro Kawamura 68 70 69 71
279 Shubankar Sharma 68 72 71 68, Andrea Pavan 68 69 73 69, Nico Geyger 71 69 70 69, S S P Chawrasia 69 67 73 70, Dean Burmester 71 70 68 70
280 Lyle Rowe 72 69 72 67, Scott Fernandez 73 68 71 68, Pep Angles 68 69 73 70, Richard Mcevoy 68 73 69 70, Jacques Blaauw 71 70 69 70, Jbe’ Kruger 67 72 70 71, Casey O’Toole 68 72 68 72, Mark Williams 69 66 71 74
281 Jason Knutzon 67 73 72 69, Gaganjeet Bhullar 70 71 67 73, Haydn Porteous 69 71 66 75, Doug McGuigan 69 71 66 75
282 Pedro Oriol 71 70 73 68, Jens Dantorp 70 70 72 70, Steven Brown 73 68 71 70, Ashley Chesters 72 69 71 70, Phachara Khongwatmai 71 68 70 73, Carlos Pigem 73 68 68 73
283 Johannes Veerman 69 72 75 67, Jarin Todd 68 69 76 70, Clement Sordet 70 69 74 70, Sutijet Kooratanapisan 76 62 73 72, Marcus Kinhult 67 72 72 72, Suradit Yongcharoenchai 69 71 71 72, Peter Karmis 73 67 70 73
284 Pavit Tangkamolprasert 72 69 74 69, Christiaan Basson 72 69 72 71
285 Anders Hansen 67 69 75 74, Adilson Da Silva 66 71 74 74, Marcel Schneider 72 66 72 75
286 Jaco Prinsloo 69 68 77 72, Jacques Kruyswijk 68 72 72 74, Sebastian Heisele 66 73 72 75
289 Jack Harrison 71 69 73 76, Pontus Widegren 67 74 70 78